If you like Hector you may have heard of a scholion to a passage of Lycophron's Alexandra that states that Hector wore his hair in what we'd call a mullet:
"Hectorian hair is said to be that which is long at the back and cut short at the front as this Lycophron says."
Scholion 1133 Ad Lycophronem
Now, the original passage refers to the Daunians, the inhabitants of the northernmost part of Apulia in southeastern Italy:
But the chiefs of the Daunians shall build for me a shrine on the banks of the Salpe, and those also who inhabit the city of Dardanus, beside the waters of the lake. And when girls wish to escape the yoke of maidens, refusing for bridegrooms men adorned with locks such as Hector wore, but with defect of form or reproach of birth, they will embrace my image with their arms, winning of mighty shield against marriage, having clothed them in the garb of the Erinyes and dyed their faces with magic simples. By those staff-carrying women I shall long be called an immortal goddess.
Lycophron's Alexandra, v.1122+
This passage is a valuable resource to examine how the Greeks viewed the Daunians in general, but for the purposes of this post it, together with Greek and native Apulian art, can show us almost exactly what this hairstyle would've looked like! (Dump incoming under the cut lol)
In general, our understanding of Daunian men's hairstyles is cloudy due to the schematic nature of Daunian art, where women are often depicted with a long braid whereas men aren't represented with any hair. Here's some examples from Iron Age Daunian stelae.
As you can see, earlier Daunian art doesn't give us much information. Here are some much later IV/III century Daunian tomb frescos from when the area was more Hellenized and Daunian art got more figurative:
As you can see, the Daunians depicted in frescos roughly contemporary with Lycophron's writing correspond pretty accurately to the image painted by the scholion. The Daunian men of this time seem to have worn their hair in a "mullet", like the other native peoples of Apulia, collectively dubbed "Iapygians" by the Greeks. Here are some examples of Apulian natives in Greek red-figure pottery:
Note the distinctly Italic clothing as well as the bronze belts, which you can also see in the stelae above and which they share with other pre-Roman Italic peoples outside of Apulia (you can read up on that here). The last image is a particularly good example to show the contrast between the Greek and the native "style". Below is a fresco from the famous "Tomba delle Danzatrici", from Ruvo di Puglia.
Now, back to Hector lol. If you like the guy you have no doubt seen this Apulian vase painting:
As much as I love it, I'm afraid it might not be Hector after all :(. This scene not only depicts the two warriors with the signature native clothing as seen in earlier examples, it also represents a particularly popular scene in Greek art for a native Italic market: the return/departure of the warrior, often accompanied by libations, as seen in the first two examples above and in the following couple of pictures.
Interestingly, though I have seen the Jatta Museum (where the vase in question is stored) suggest the identification of the scene with that of the Iliad before, it also suggests that the father of the child is actually the man on the left (who gets cut out of the pic most of the time lol), pointing out the similarities in his and the kid's clothes. It also identifies the helmet in "Hector"'s hand as a Chalcidian helmet, clearly extraneous to the otherwise characteristically Italic elements of the scene, and thus interpreted as war loot from the Greek settlers in the region.
Now, this doesn't mean this can't be Hector, Andromache and Astyanax, but it definitely doesn't seem to be the most likely case. BUT! In a weird roundabout way we learned how Lycophron might've pictured Hector's hairstyle, even if that isn't him on the vase! Funny how that works huh, one of the most famous would-be depictions of Hector might not be him but it just so happens it depicts the hairstyle a source mentions the Daunians having taking after him because the vase was produced near Daunia!
Anyways, sorry for the long post , I hope this made sense at least lmao
pensando alla fanart di omero che boccaccio fa in un manoscritto con la scritta "homero poeta sovrano" e la sua firma in caratteri greci come una ragazzina di 15 anni che ha appena iniziato il classico
I need to draw but I need to read but I need to go out but I need to study but I don't want to but I need to and it's so damn hot and I end up not doing anything at all lol
A pretty casual look for her (simple hair and no jewelry) but that’s bc this is more of a “study” to see if I can render her with pearlescent skin bc rendering skin is my least favorite thing to do lol it’s better than the attempts I’ve made years ago.
Also I'm reminded that a wikipedia page suggested the Danuna from the sea peoples were Daunians which. Big if true but there was no source whatsoever, plus it was only on the Italian page and not other languages and I never saw it brought up anywhere else so yeah. I don't think there's anything going for it other than the name sounds kinda similar? They're more likely to be from southeastern Anatolia iirc
"This is a long pdf, would you like an AI summar-"
NO
I downloaded a pdf and I'm gonna read it dammit. What's next, is an AI gonna summarize the new book I just got because it contains more than 20 pages??
I have this Italian Disney themed recipe book and i didn't remember there was a whole section for Iliad/Odyssey inspired recipes, so I figured I'd share the illustrations that go with them. The section even starts with "sing o muse of Pelides Achilles."
In order of appearance: Paris' omelette with jam, Achilles' ciambella (typical Italian ring-shaped cake), Vegetable pudding called Battle Horse (in the book it's said Andromache used to make this for Astyanax 🥺), Odysseus' tuna and potato cake (I'm not really sure how to describe it in English so it doesn't sound awful lol) and the Sirens' chiacchiere (typical festive pastries whose name means "chatters", hence the siren connection.
Not pictured are Helen's honey-dipped fried apples, Menelaus' zuccotto (type of cake), and Penelope's salad with citrus fruits and nuts.
This was just the surface of Mickey mouse Iliad and Odyssey content btw
Favorite thing about this is the contrast between the parodic tone and the use of epithets and reference to homeric writing. Also Patroclus' equivalent in this universe is the triplets (called Giovani Marmotte in Italian and Giovani Mirmidoni, aka Young Myrmidons, as a play on that in this universe) who are now called Pa, Tro and Clus (as a play on their Italian names Qui, Quo and Qua), same thing happens with Astyanax and Mickey's nephews.
Had some free time this morning so I figured I'd show yall some neat nostalgic stuff from my bookshelf!
A vintage animal sticker album that belonged to my father but that must've been lended to him by his cousin since he signed his name on the cover lol
A cd-book of the song Volta la carta by Fabrizio de André, a very nostalgic song for me and many others
A gorgeously illustrated book on monkeys!
Kamillo! I would spend so much time looking at the illustrations back then, they're so colorful. It's a story of a chameleon who can change the color of objects, animals and people on top of being able of doing so himself
My beloved edition of Pinocchio.. gorgeously illustrated as well (I still have a soft spot for Chiostri's illustrations because of the TV series lol)
Thecnically!Southern Italians part 1. The Ostuni 1 burial/"Delia", an eight months pregnant twenty year old woman from the Gravettian Period found in a cave in Apulia
